Wind energy generation is becoming increasing popular as a means of producing energy. The production of energy from the motion of winds is a safe, clean and efficient power source. As the blades of the wind power generator rotate, they correspondingly rotate the shaft of a turbine so as to produce energy. This energy can then be delivered for personal or commercial use. Large wind energy farms are now being built whereby a great deal of wind energy can be obtained in relatively windy areas of the country.
Unfortunately, one major problem associated with wind energy generator is that the generator can only operate under optimum wind conditions. If too little wind is being produced, then the blades will not rotate and energy will not be produced. The use of batteries is a very ineffective technique for the storing of energy as produced from the wind energy generator. As such, under most circumstances, the wind energy generators will not rotate when wind falls below a certain desired level and energy cannot be produced during such periods of time.
In the past, a variety of patents and patent publication have issued relating to such wind energy generators. An early patent relating to the subject of wind energy generation is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,352,960. In this patent, a plurality of electrical energy generating coils are placed in proximity to magnets affixed to the periphery of the wheel of the generator. A plurality of blades or vanes extending outwardly of the wheel so as to capture the wind passing thereby. As the wheel is rotated, the excited coils will produce energy by interaction with the magnets affixed to the periphery of the wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,259,233, issued on Jul. 10, 2001, describes an electric motor/generator. The stator arrangement has a dielectric electromagnet housing and at least one energizable electromagnet assembly including an overall amorphous metal magnetic core. The device includes a control arrangement that is able to variably control the activation and deactivation of the electromagnetic using any combination of a plurality of activation and deactivation parameters in order to control the speed, efficiency, torque and power of the device.
German Patent No. 10140516 teaches a wind-power electrical energy generator that has a stator provided with electromagnetic windings cooperative with permanent magnets of a wind turbine rotor. The wind turbine rotor rotates about a vertical axis and is provided with anemometric pockets of equal sides and spacing and a stator attached to a sleeve. The stator is provided with electromagnetic windings of similar size and spacings so as to cooperate with permanent magnets of the turbine rotor.
German Patent No. 19636591 teaches a generator that has a large number of poles at an outer rotor enclosing an inner stator laminations packet wound with a stator winding and supported by cooling ribs. The generator transmits the generator load to the mast head of the energy converter. The outer rotor is provided by a thin-wall cylindrical yoke with permanent magnets on its inside and cooling ribs on its outside for intensive cooling of the permanent magnets.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0137149, issued on Jul. 24, 2003 to Northrup et al., provides a segmented arc generator. This arc generator is adapted to convert mechanical power, such as wind power, into electrical power. The rotor has a plurality of salient poles disposed about a periphery of a rotor ring. The stator ring includes a plurality of stator coils wound on a ferromagnetic structure and has permanent magnets imbedded within the structure. Relative motion between a rotor pole and a corresponding stator coil induces a voltage across that coil.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0222756, published on Nov. 11, 2004 to W. M. Crookes, describes an electric motor that has a stator and a rotor. The stator an annular armature having a plurality of poles evenly spaced about the inner circumferential surface of the armature and directed towards a central longitudinal axis defined by the rotor shaft. A pair of firing circuits are connected in common and in series with respective sets of coils wound about the stator poles. The circuits are switched into and out of contact with their respective coil sets according to the position of the rotor with respect to the stator via position sensing elements which operate switches in the accumulator circuits.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0227174, published on Dec. 11, 2003 to E. Bayly, shows a wind energy conversion device that includes a propeller in which each of the propeller blades includes a proximal non-airfoil mounting section, a medial section and a distal tip section mounted to pivot relative to the medial section about a pitch axis running lengthwise of the blade. The electrical power generating components are located upwind of the propeller and centered about the propeller axis.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0041408, published on Mar. 4, 2004 to M. Casazza, provides a wind energy generator unit with high energy yield. This generator includes an air motor capable of transforming the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. The generator of the of the air motor is directly and closely connected with the rotor of the air-motor.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0041409, published on March, 2004 to C. W. Gabrys, describes a wind turbine which includes a generator coupled to the turbine rotor such that the turbine rotor drives the generator. The generator rotor has circumferential arrays of multiple alternating polarity permanent magnets attached to ferromagnetic back irons such that the permanent magnets drive magnetic flux back and forth between each rotor portion and through the stationary air core armature. The stationary air core armature has multiple phase windings of multiple individually insulated strand conductor wire that is wound with two separate portions including an active length portion and an end turn portion.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wind energy generator that includes an auxiliary energy generating apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a wind energy generator which includes an electromagnetic mechanism for enhancing the ability to rotate the blades of the wind energy generator during low wind conditions.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a wind energy generator which utilizes the natural inertial forces and gravity for the purposes of enhancing electrical power generation.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a wind energy generator that facilitates the ability to store wind energy that would normally be lost during the rotation of the blades during low wind conditions.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the reading of the attached specification and appended claims.